Good Thursday morning.
The first day of a new month seems like a good time to look back and reflect, and it turns out that when one goes back far enough into the annals of history, a lot of interesting – and significant – things occurred on this date.
For example, on Sept. 1, 1939, Hitler’s German Army invaded Poland, triggering the start of WW II, because in response to this act of aggression, Great Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany.
Hitler had signed a non-aggression pact with Poland in January 1934 not long after he ascended to power, because he wanted to neutralize the possibility of a French-Polish alliance before Germany had a chance to re-arm following the Great War.
To justify the invasion roughly five years later, Nazi propagandists accused Poland of persecuting ethnic Germans who were living in Poland, and falsely claimed Poland was planning, along with Great Britain and France, to encircle and dismember Germany.
For those who require a little refresher course (like me), the U.S. didn’t enter WW II until Dec. 11, 1941, though we had been providing significant military supplies and other assistance to the Allies well before then.
It took the bombing of Pearl Harbor to spur this country to enter the European Theater. Our declaration of war caused Germany, a Japanese ally, to, in turn, declare war on us. Thus began a global conflict of epic proportions.
Also on this date in 1972, which just so happens to be the year I was born, Bobby Fischer, of the U.S. (actually, a New Yorker!), defeated Boris Spassky, of the Soviet Union, to become the first native-born American to hold the title of world chess champion.
The face-off between the upstart and the defending champion took place in the Laugardalshöll arena in Reykjavík, Iceland, and has long since been dubbed the Match of the Century. This match triggering a worldwide chess craze, which I find pretty interesting, since that same dynamic was repeated yet again decades later with the release of the Netflix series, “The Queens Gambit.”
And one more historical note of interest: On this date in 1954, the Alfred Hitchcock classic “Rear Window” opened in American theaters. The film starred James Stewart and Grace Kelly, and was set in New York’s Greenwich Village, but was actually shot entirely on a sound stage in Paramount Studios.
The movie, which cost $1 million to make, opened to positive reviews and went on to earn more than $36 million. It was nominated for four Academy Awards and is widely viewed as one of the greatest films ever made.
The film is based on Cornell Woolrich’s 1942 short story “It Had to Be Murder“, which differs fairly significantly from the version with which you’re likely familiar from the big screen.
There has been a distinct feeling of fall in the air (yes, I know we’re not there yet, officially speaking), and today will be no different, with temperatures in the low-to-mid 70s and mostly sunny skies.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden will travel to Philadelphia today for a primetime speech on “the continued battle for the soul of the nation” in front of Independence Hall.
The Biden administration announced multiple efforts that are intended to address a national shortage of school teachers, including a move to increase pay.
Biden has formally announced his plans to give civilian federal employees a pay raise next year, starting on Jan. 1, 2023.
Biden is taking heat from Republicans for spending 40% of his days in office “on vacation” after he was away from the White House for two-thirds of August.
Biden approved Mississippi’s emergency declaration, ordering federal assistance to supplement the state’s response efforts due to the city of Jackson’s water crisis.
More than 150,000 people in Jackson faced a third day of unreliable running water as officials scrambled Wednesday to repair the capital city’s neglected water infrastructure and provide clean drinking water.
In an upset that could reverberate nationally, Mary Peltola has won a special House election in Alaska and will finish the remaining few months of the term of Rep. Don Young, who died in March after serving nearly 50 years as his state’s lone congressman.
Peltola, a former state representative, will be the first Alaska Native in Congress after she won a special election that included GOP candidates Nick Begich and former Gov. Sarah Palin.
The race had been viewed nationally through the lens of the attempted political comeback of Palin, who in 2008 became the Republican vice presidential nominee and, after losing, in 2009 resigned midway through her lone term in the governor’s office.
The Department of Justice reportedly will not formally decide whether to charge former President Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents scandal until after the midterm elections on Nov. 8.
Trump’s legal team aggressively renewed its push for an independent arbiter to review documents the F.B.I. seized in its Aug. 8 search of his Florida residence, telling a federal judge that he had merely possessed “his own presidential records.”
Two lawyers for Trump are likely to become witnesses or targets in the investigation into how he hoarded documents marked as classified — and secretly held onto some even after they claimed all sensitive materials had been returned, legal specialists said.
At least 10 Republican candidates in competitive races have updated their websites to minimize their ties to the former president or to adjust their stances on abortion.
National test results showed in stark terms the pandemic’s devastating effects on American schoolchildren, with the performance of 9-year-olds in math and reading dropping to the levels from two decades ago.
The scores show unprecedented drops on the long-term trends tests that are part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the “Nation’s Report Card.” The tests are administered to U.S. students age 9.
U.S. health regulators cleared use of retooled Covid-19 vaccines that target the latest versions of Omicron, in preparation for a fall booster campaign that could start within days.
The action by the FDA permits people 12 years and older to receive an additional shot of the vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, and people 18 and older to receive a Moderna Inc. booster at least two months after their most recent dose.
Many restaurant owners in New York are reporting increasingly worse financial conditions for the industry as their struggles continue in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey released yesterday.
“There’s a lot that we need to do to improve not only the preparedness but [also] the response,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said. “Hopefully, you do that by learning lessons from what you have experienced in the past.”
The Coast Guard kicked seven unvaccinated cadets out of its academy in Connecticut after their religious exemption requests were rejected.
New York City educators are still overwhelmingly concerned about the lingering academic and emotional effects of the pandemic on students as they prepare to start the third school year since the arrival of COVID-19, according to the results of a new survey.
Republican nominee for governor Rep. Lee Zeldin offered a David Letterman-like “Top 10 list” of gripes against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
Zeldin joined local lawmakers outside the Elmira Correctional Facility to continue the push for the appeal of the Humane Alternatives to Solitary Confinement (HALT) Act, following multiple inmate attacks inside the facility in the month of August.
Legislators and advocates for drug reform flanked the steps of the state Capitol, urging executive action from Hochul to establish centers that would provide a safe place to use drugs – a plea that comes as overdose death rates of overdose continue to rise.
Adams and Hochul rolled out “gun-free zones” across New York in a bid to counteract the Supreme Court’s recent reversal of a longstanding state firearm restriction — but questions remain on how the anti-firearm areas will be policed.
There’s been a 54% increase in applications for carry licenses ahead of new state laws taking effect Sept. 1 in response to the controversial high court decision two months ago.
The number of New Yorkers hoping to legally carry a gun spiked this summer ahead of strict new permitting rules set to take effect today.
Under the new rules, those who want to carry concealed weapons will have to undertake 16 hours of classroom training and provide character references.
Gun enthusiasts who were only allowed to fire their weapons at a gun range before the high court struck down the state’s tough gun permit laws are among the thousands of people now anxiously seeking full carry permits.
The crucial Gateway transit link from New Jersey to New York will now open three years later than expected and is likely to cost $2 billion more to construct.
A bill that would ban solitary confinement in New York City jails now has a veto-proof supermajority of support among city lawmakers, signaling momentum on an issue linked to inmate deaths and spurring calls for an overhaul of the troubled system.
City officials have quietly opened a “welcome center” to handle some of the roughly 8,000 newly arrived migrants that have flooded the Big Apple in recent weeks.
Assemblyman Billy Jones, a Democrat who represents the North Country region of New York, is concerned the state’s new concealed carry law for firearms is too broadly written and will criminalize gun ownership in the Adirondack Park.
A law intended to curb the inhalation of nitrous oxide among teenagers was interpreted by some to be an all-out ban on whipped-cream canisters for customers under the age of 21, prompting certain retailers (like Stewart’s) to ask for ID.
“I used to love whipped cream — but now I’m having second thoughts,” state Sen. Joe Addabbo (D-Queens) quipped of the unexpected blowback to the bill he sponsored targeting teens use of so-called “whip-its.”
In a stunning development in court, a judge tossed out a plea deal struck between Schoharie County prosecutors and Nauman Hussain, who ran the limousine company that owned the vehicle that took the lives of 20 people almost four years ago.
An emergency community meeting was held yesterday to discuss the public safety concerns in the Pine Hills neighborhood.
Will Brown will coach the Albany Patroons in 2023, the team announced.
The Capitalize Albany Corp. and the city are looking for input on a $10 million grant application for South Pearl Street as part of the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative.
The road salt pile that’s long been a prominent feature of the City of Troy’s Hudson River waterfront for years may disappear as the city takes land by eminent domain to build the South Troy Industrial Roadway.
Movie tickets will be just $3 this Saturday – the first-ever National Cinema Day – at theaters across the country, including Regal Cinemas, AMC and Landmark’s Spectrum 8 Theatres in Albany.
The Napanoch Point fire in Minnewaska State Park has grown to an estimated 270 acres, Ulster County Executive Patrick Ryan said.
